At the end of October a formation course for formators was held at the Teresian Centre (of the Congo Commissariat). The theme for the meeting was: Formation in the intercultural era. It was conducted by Brothers Valentin Ntumba from the Congo ( biblical and anthropological prospective) and A.M. Zachary Igirukwayo from Burundi ((theological and charismatic prospective).
With both realistic and prophetic courage the OCD Superiors of French-speaking Africa and Madagascar chose formation in this intercultural era as the theme for the formation of their formators. As a sequel to this course we must now appropriate and begin to promote interculture in educational settings. This could result, for example, in
- transversal understanding and appreciation of the various cultures involved, leading to better understanding of and interaction with each other;
- learning to recognize the different languages and to appreciate what is fundamentally human in every language;
- re-establishing affectivity in the formation process so as to overcome intellectulalism and assimilation tendencies and to promote evaluation processes that include “intercultural competence”;
- to be open to diversity and to include a missionary prospective in the formation programme.
